Recently, supposedly because I have an excellent credit rating, my credit card company issued me a Platinum Mastercard at 7.75% interest that gives back 1% of all purchases annually. Of course, it also has no annual fee.

How do they make money doing that? I had my standard credit card with the same company for the last 15 years, and recent history indicates that I always pay off my entire balance. Given that, it's as though *they* are paying *me* for the privilege of me using their card.

I'm not complaining! I just want to know if anyone can tell me the credit card company's financial rationale for paying me to use their card.